Nigeria, 2nd most popular destination for US FDI – Hawkins

Nigeria has been described as the second most popular destination for U.S Foreign Direct Investment in Africa, owing to Nigeria’s high degree of friendship, trust and cooperation with the United States government.

US Consul General, Jeffery Hawkins disclosed this at the just concluded Nigeria-United States bi-national commission dialogue held at the Nigeria Institute of International Affair (NIIA), Lagos, where he commended the efforts put in place by Nigeria government in ensuring that it maintains a productive diplomatic build up on her bi-national relations with the U.S, and indeed other countries, in order to expand mutual partnerships for tangible progress on some of its economic key areas.

According to the CG, ”Nigeria is now the second most popular destination for the U.S Foreign Direct Investment in Africa and many of the leading U.S-based global corporations have big footprints here in Nigeria, such as General Electric, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Procter and Gamble, and of course Chevron, ExxonMobil, which are key players in the Nigeria oil and gas industry and United States sixth largest exporter of oil and gas.”

This endowment and cordial bi-national trade relations have provided a handful of American companies with the enabling environment needed to increasingly invest into Nigeria’s economy, thereby, contributing to cutting down on the number of unemployed youth in Nigeria.

Also disclosing that Nigeria’s population is expected to double within thirty to forty years, an indication that tens of millions of young Nigerians would be entering the labor market, Hawkins stated: “It is squarely in the interest of the United States to see that Nigeria becomes an even more attractive place for these companies and those yet to arrive to do business, and as such, Nigeria desperately need these investments which would expectedly provide jobs for these burgeoning Nigeria youth population.”